Tamworth Correctional Centre overseer Dean Hensley said inmates had been back working at the popular mountain bike track and the Kootingal pony club.

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In just a few weeks, prisoners had already done a thorough job of painting hundreds of metres of fences to spruce up facilities at the pony club, he said.

"We're just in process now of painting all the rails, which haven't been done for probably 15 or 20 years," he said.

"We've put ... three coats on actually."

The inmates have a long history of working with the pony club, having installed safety matting in all the stables just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Working in the community is a unique opportunity for those inmates who have shown good behaviour during the course of their incarceration.

Mr Hensley said it's something that gives the inmates a sense of work ethic and purpose, which put them in a good frame of mind.

"They like it, going around the different areas and seeing the town and putting something back into the community," he said.

"A lot of them have got the skill set to do the stuff we're doing, it's just doing it on a regular basis.

"It gets them in that mindset for when they get released, you know that they can start then going on and working your five days, eight hours a day."

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